Page 5 of Ironling
He wanted to be more than Ingrid’s poor orphaned halfling.
He wanted out of this house, with its dark corners and cold hearth and heavy memories.
“You know what I mean,” he admonished Siggy gently. “I know I can workgadaron’s forge, but that’s not a life. I want what you have, Siggy.”
Her lips thinned into a line between her tusks, capped with jeweled silver to show off her craft. Her leathers were soft and polished, no doubt thanks to Viggo, and her tunic and kirtle had been embroidered at the hems and cuffs with intricate designs of hammers and tongs. A double-layered torque lay around her neck, two gems winking on either side of her throat.
Hakon definitely wasn’t jealous that Siggy hadtwomates when he had none. Definitely not.
Of course, he knew his aunt worked hard for the life she had, and she deserved every happiness. Hakon was determined to work just as hard to deserve the same.
Siggy huffed again, lifting a few strands of her dark mane from her brow. “There are more females in Kaldebrak than just Feeli.”
Hakon’s ears heated at the name, and he pointedly kept his gaze on his folding. Getting far away from Feeli and his old feelings for her were more reasons to leave.
He couldn’t even blame his infatuation on being a foolishyouth, for he’d pined after the orcess for far longer than that. Feeli had been the only orcess to show any interest in him, and even though she’d made clear she’d never accept a mate-bond with him, nor even be the only male she lay with at a time, for years Hakon held onto hope that she might change her mind.
Plenty of kin mated more than one other—Siggy, Halstern, and Viggo were easy proof of that. However, deep inside, Hakon had always been a jealous sort; covetous, desirous. He wanted all of someone for himself. It was an ugly sort of possessiveness, and he’d done his best to squash those feelings, as he knew, even in his deepest infatuation, that they were useless when it came to Feeli. The orcess had no interest in choosing just one bedfellow, and even if she did, it wouldn’t be him.
In the end, they’d taken their pleasures with each other. Hakon learned how to please a female and Feeli discovered what it was like to lay with a halfling. There had been times when they stayed awake late into the night, lounging in bed and just talking, that Hakon thought perhaps it would turn into something more. But now he was wiser and perhaps a bit smarter. Feeli wasn’t the female for him.
“None would have me,” Hakon reminded his aunt. He was friends or acquaintances with plenty, having grown up with many other kin, but most only saw him at best as a brother, at worst a pity.Poor Hakon the halfling, no kin, only one good ear—what was there to recommend him?
“You don’t know that,” Siggy insisted.
“I do.”
“And you think a human woman would accept you?”
Hakon’s ears burned again.
That’s the hope, yes.
“I’ve tried to find a mate here. It’s time I search elsewhere,” he said, quite diplomatically, he thought.
“But humans…” Siggy made a dismissive, rude gesture.“They’re so…”
“My father was human.”
“Yes, but Cormac was different. Strong. They aren’t all like that, you know.”
“Not all orcs are the same, either, Siggy.”
She pointed a warning green finger at him. “Don’t argue with me, nephew.”
“Not arguing, just pointing out.”
“You’re doing it again.”
“Doing what?”
Siggy made a disgusted sound before marching across the room. Hakon braced for a sisterly slap, but instead, Siggy laid her hand on his shoulder and squeezed.
“I’ve lost my sister and now my parents. I don’t want to lose you, too, nephew.”
Heart aching, Hakon dropped his folding to pull his aunt into a firm embrace. They were nearly the same size, Siggy slightly taller but Hakon with wider shoulders. He felt her love and her loss through her embrace—it almost convinced him to stay.
“I want you to be happy, I do. I just worry that your leaving is out of grief, not to find happiness.”
